New clinic gets green light

Van Diest to open clinic in Dayton

May 2, 2013

DAYTON - A new clinic will be opening in Dayton, a community that hasn't had such a medical facility in six months.

It will be open one or two days a week, with a physician assistant as the primary care provider. An opening date hasn't been established yet.

During a Wednesday evening special meeting, the Dayton City Council approved measures that will enable Van Diest Medical Center, of Webster City, to make the new clinic a reality.

''Our main concern was to get the clinic open as soon as possible for the medical care of our citizens,'' Mayor Richard Travis said.

Travis said he and other community leaders ''worked tirelessly'' to secure a new health care provider for Dayton after officials of McCrary-Rost Clinic announced that it would be closing late last year. That clinic shut down in December.

''We're committed to being open one to two days a week,'' said Bob Mason, the chief executive officer of Van Diest Medical Center.

Mason said a target date for opening the clinic has been chosen, but he added that he doesn't want to commit to that date until equipment needed for the clinic has been purchased. He did not say what that target date is.

The clinic will be located at 24 S. Main St., in the same building where the McCrary-Rost Clinic was located.

Penny Osborn, a physician assistant who is the primary care provider at the medical center's clinic in Stratford, will have the same role in Dayton. She will be assisted by a nurse with radiology training and a receptionist.

The clinic will have a lab and, eventually, X-ray equipment.

The council on Wednesday voted to approve an agreement with Van Diest Medical Center and a lease with Gary Knopf, who owns the building. Those measures were approved on separate unanimous votes.

Travis said the city government will lease the clinic building from Knopf for 12 months. He said Knopf will allow the city to have the building for free for the first three months. After that, the city will pay $400 a month.

The city will also pay the utility bills for the clinic for its first year of operations.

The mayor said the Dayton Community Club, Lehigh Valley Cooperative Telephone Association and the city's Light and Power Board are each contributing $2,500 to help pay for the lease and utility bills.

''We've always felt that whenever the city plays a part, it works better because they have a vested interest,'' Mason said.

About 20 people attended the special council meeting in the Dayton Community Center.

Cindy Gertz, Caroline Marcalus, John Skoglund, Knopf and Travis worked with Van Diest Medical Center officials to establish the clinic.